Chuck, Serena, Blair, Dan, Jenny and Eric find themselves faced with a crisis when a member of one of their families is hospitalized. Meanwhile, Nate attempts to help his parents, The Captain and Anne, put their complicated past behind them and reconcile.

James Poniewozik

John Maynard

At times, it's overboard and maybe a bit giggle-inducing, like watching little kids play dress-up. But overboard is exactly where Gossip Girl wants to be--and what viewers must embrace when taking the guilty plunge.

Rob Owen

Matthew Gilbert

Your feelings about Gossip Girl will depend on just how guilty you are willing to feel about your guilty pleasures. It can be entertaining to watch adults throw around money, attitude, and alcohol on soap operas; it can be grotesque to see teenagers doing the same things.

Verne Gay

Alessandra Stanley

It's a sleek, glossy, musically enhanced soap opera centered on wealthy, gorgeous high school students who connive and cavort to the sound of Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Peter Bjorn and John, Angels & Airwaves, and Timbaland.

Troy Patterson

Heather Havrilesky

Gossip Girl should be a good ride, at least until all the characters become more and more likable and there's no conflict or tension anymore, and then you have to kill off the weakest one just to get people to pay any attention.

Marisa LaScala

Maureen Ryan

But it's not just that the Gossip Girl cast lacks chemistry. Among these characters and threaded through these predictable, thin stories, there's precious little of anything that approaches sweetness, kindness, altruism or heart.

Melanie McFarland

John Leonard

I don’t care whether Serena (Blake Lively) and Blair (Leighton Meester) can ever be best friends again after what happened with Blair’s boyfriend before Serena ran off to boarding school is not just because I’m an old fart.